The Legislative Assembly of Tonga will temporarily relocate and resume its session on Monday, March 5 at the Tonga National Centre in Tofoa.

This is a change of venue from the Fa’onelua Convention Centre, which was their first choice of an alternative location.

The relocation comes three weeks after Tropical Cyclone Gita destroyed Tonga's 125 year old Parliament House that housed the Legislature in Nuku'alofa,  since the year 1892. 

Parliament will relocate to the Tonga National Centre until such time as a new Legislative Assembly complex is built.

But there is one logistical problem with the new location for the session

Parliament Office stated today, because the location of the National Centre was not within the Nuku’alofa area, an amendment was recently made to a Government Gazette of 1984 for the locations's inclusion in the Nuku’alofa boundary. This was to ensure compliance with Clause 38 of the Act of the Constitution of Tonga, which provides that the Legislative Assembly "shall always meet in Nuku’alofa except in times of war".

The land area that is occupied by the National Centre is estimated at about two acres which will be marked as under the Nuku'alofa zone, but the surrounding area will be Tofoa.